There are no applications for patent related hereto heretofore filed in this or any foreign country.
IIB. Field of Invention
My invention provides a casino-type card game that combines modified characteristics of a black jack game with modified characteristics of a poker game, both games simultaneously played pursuant to separate bets with a single card hand.
IIC. Background and Description of Prior Art
Gambling games have assumed increasing popularity and economic importance in the recent cultural past by reason of extinguishment of the historical aura of illegality that has previously surrounded gambling. This is especially true of casino-type gambling that has in recent years been embraced by many sovereigns to enhance their own coffers and in privately owned and operated for profit casinos which have come into being largely as a result of the approval of sovereign operated gambling. At the inception of the present gambling era, the gambling itself was sufficiently novel and enticing that it begot substantial public participation even though most of the casino gambling games were the same as, or variants of, ancient gambling games, some of which had been known since at least the fifteenth century. As time passed however, the early novelty began to wane and casinos have sought various inducements to maintain and enhance customer interest in their business.
One such type of inducement has been the creation and development of new, different and novel gambling games, and especially such games as do, or are perceived to, change and enhance the probabilities of a player""s winning, or reduce or remove the effects that the skill and knowledge of professional gamblers associated with casinos may have upon the outcome of gambling games. The instant game seeks to fulfill this need by providing a new card game that yet remains within the essential ambit of known and habitually familiar card games of ancient origin, and one which removes casino employees"" knowledge and skill as a factor affecting or determining game outcome.
The instant game accomplishes its ends by intimately blending modified elements of the traditional black jack game with modified elements of the traditional poker game, two of the world""s most popular gambling games played with cards.
Both black jack and poker historically have had many and various versions, modifications and methods of play but the essence of each game is still well understood by many, if not most, gamblers.
Black jack, as presently known in U.S. gambling houses is in essence a version of the French game, vingt-et-un or xe2x80x9ctwenty-onexe2x80x9d, and that latter game in turn owes its organogenesis to the similar more ancient game of baccarat. The aim of baccarat, to acquire a total of playing pieces having value as near as possible to a given number, presently generally nine, without exceeding it, is a gambling principle known even before playing cards were invented. Black jack in its early history was usually played against a dealer or banker who was one of the group of game players and could be variously determined as play was instituted and proceeded. In modern day casino gambling the dealer or banker is usually an employee of the casino. Though the probability of winning is slightly higher for the dealer than for other players, skill and knowledge still are somewhat determinative of the outcome of the traditional black jack game. Since the casino dealer is, or is perceived to be, a professional gambler of substantial knowledge and skill, the present day casino black jack game, even when dealer play is partially or completely determined by house rules, is not looked upon with complete favor by casino patrons, and especially by those players that have, or perceive that they have, no substantial knowledge of the game.
In modern U.S. casino gambling the potential advantage of a skilled and knowledgeable dealer has generally been removed, or substantially removed, by house rules such as requiring the dealer to stand on a hand having a count of seventeen or more, but requiring the dealer to draw to a hand having a count of sixteen or less. Such rules, however, do not completely alleviate in the minds of all casino players the concept that the outcome of the game may be affected by the dealer""s professional skill and knowledge of the game.
Poker is a quite ancient game with ancestral progenitors in Spain, Italy and France that appear in the literature as early as 1526, although those ancestral games were somewhat different from the modern U.S. casino forms of poker. Poker appeared as a gambling game in the United States at least as early as 1829 and was popularized in the modern U.S. form in England, and probably in Europe in general, in the 1870""s by Queen Victoria who had a substantial liking of the game. The original game was played with three cards in its earlier European forms and card hands were ranked differently than in present day casino games. The number of cards in the poker hand increased to four in Europe in the 1700""s and this begot the bluffing aspects of the game that continue into the present day with five or more cards in a hand. Poker probably better rewards the skillful player than any other card game and because of this, in present day casino gambling, the game is generally played between patrons without participation of house employees, except as non-playing dealers, because of the advantage that knowledgeable professional gamblers may have in the game. There are many variations of traditional poker games, but the common elements essential to game play and hand valuation remain substantially standardized in modern day casino gambling, at least in the English speaking world. Poker remains in the present day one of the most popular casino card games, notwithstanding or because of the importance of a player""s skill in determining the game.
The instant game and its method of play blend various features of both black jack and poker to provide a single new game that is more probabilistically dependent than skill dependent to both attract customers and allow gambling houses to regulate profit margins of the game with reasonable accuracy by the application of mathematical probability theory.
The instant game differs from the traditional U.S. game of black jack by setting a maximum hand value of thirty-one rather than twenty-one, by assigning point values to cards that differ from traditional black jack point values and by determining bet payments based on predetermined point values of players"" hands rather than by comparing players hands to a dealer""s hand. The play of the game begins by dealing each player three cards and thereafter sequentially allowing each player to receive any additional number of cards desired until his hand exceeds thirty-one points or the player stands player three cards and thereafter sequentially allowing each player to receive any additional number of cards desired until his hand exceeds thirty-one points or the player stands on the hand he has. A player at any time may xe2x80x9cdouble downxe2x80x9d by making a second bet matching his first point value bet and thereupon receive one additional final card.
All of the player""s bets are then evaluated. With the point value bet the instant game values the ten card with no point value, the other cards with traditional black jack values and pays hands one-to-one that have a total point value of twenty-nine, thirty or thirty-one points. If a player doubles down, a total point value of twenty-nine or thirty points in the player""s hand pays one-to-one on both bets and a total point value of thirty-one points pays three-to-two.
After the point valuation the player""s poker hand is evaluated when the total point value of the hand is not greater than thirty-one. The second poker bet is paid to the player if he has a poker hand with a pair of jacks or higher value. Poker hand values are determined by traditional U.S. poker valuation, except that three of the same value royal face cards (jacks, queens or kings) rank between a flush and four-of-a-kind; four sevens rank between a straight flush and a royal flush; and any flush or straight must contain five cards. The poker winnings of any particular hand are determined from a pre-established house established schedule with the pay out value of a particular hand generally varying substantially inversely with the probability of a player""s obtaining that hand, as opposed to comparing the player""s hand with hands of the other players or of a dealer. By use of this method of betting on poker hands there is no involvement of bluffing or the skill of a house dealer or of other players involved, to make the game probabilistically determinable. The outcome of the payouts of the poker game can be numerically estimated accurately by known mathematical probability theory to make the earnings of the game reasonably determinable by the gambling house.
My invention lies not in any one of these features per se but rather in the synergistic combination of all of the rules and methods of play of my game that necessarily give rise to the results flowing therefrom.
My invention provides a casino type card game that combines modified features of a black jack game and modified features of a poker game, both based on a single player hand. Both games are intimately related in the game play, but separate bets for each game type are made by the players for each game hand.
Each of a group of preferably from one to six players optionally making point value and optional poker bets are sequentially dealt a hand of three cards from one or more standard decks of fifty-two playing cards. Each player in turn may receive any additional number of cards he elects until he stands on the hand he then has or has surpassed a point total value of thirty-one, at which all of the player""s bets are lost. The player may double down by making a second point value bet equal to the first point value bet and then receive only on additional card. The player""s hand then, if still active, is evaluated for determination of all of the player""s bets.
The point total bet valuation pays an equal amount of a player""s bet on a hand having a point value of twenty-nine, thirty or thirty-one, with the playing cards having normal black jack values except for the ten card that has no point value. If a double down bet has been made the house pays an equal amount on both of the player""s bets if the total hand value is twenty-nine or thirty and if the total hand value is thirty-one the house pays three-to-two on both player bets. If the player""s hand exceeds thirty-one points the player loses all bets on both black jack and poker portions of the game.
After determination of the player""s point value bets, and if a poker bet has been made, player""s hand, if not over a point total of thirty-one, is then evaluated as a poker hand. Traditional U.S. poker valuations are used, except that three of the same rank of face cards have a valuation between a flush and four-of-a-kind; four sevens have a valuation between a straight flush and a royal flush; and a flush and a straight must contain five cards. The poker hand must have two jacks or a higher value to be eligible for bet payments, which are determined by a schedule, pre-established by the gaming house, with the payments varying substantially inversely with the probability of obtaining a particular poker hand.
In providing such a game and its method of play it is:
A principal object to provide a new casino type card game having modified features of a black jack game and modified features of poker game, all played with the same card hand.
A further object is to provide such a game that has different methods of play and valuation of hands than either the traditional black jack or poker games.
A further object is to provide such a game that intimately links the play of the black jack-like and poker-like portions of the game to each other, with separate but preferably equal bets made on each game portion.
A still further object is to provide such a game that is based on probabilistic determination rather than on the skill of the players to remove any advantage of a skilled and experienced player and to allow mathematical determination of the pay out of both the black jack and poker portions of the game.
A still further object is to provide such a game wherein winnings are determined by a pre-established house schedule rather than by comparison of one player""s hand to the hands of other players or to a house dealer, who in the instant game is not a player.
A still further object is to provide such a game that is new and novel, of simple, easy and generally habitually familiar play and one otherwise well suited to the uses and purposes for which it is intended.
Other and further objects of my game will appear from the following specification and accompanying drawing which form a part hereof. In carrying out the objects of my invention however, it is to be understood that its features are susceptible of change in details, design, and ordering with only one preferred and practical embodiment being illustrated in the accompanying drawings and specified as is required.